According to a survey done by Dutch newspaper Telesport two years ago, a majority of the former Tour de France winners believe that Lance Armstrong’s seven Tour wins should not have been stripped.
Of the 25 surviving Tour winners, 12 say that Armstrong should retain his Tour de France titles despite his doping confessions. Seven say no. Two have no opinion, two do not want to talk about Armstrong, and the two elders are no longer physically able to talk about him.
The two Dutch Tour winners Jan Janssen and Joop Zoetemelk said, ‘We have no butter on our heads,” says Janssen. “In those years, everyone was on the same products as Armstrong” says Zoetemelk. “Ten years later, you should not be changing more results. They should get over him.”
“Armstrong should stay on that list,” said the Irishman Stephen Roche, who won the Tour in 1987. “In the 100-year history of the race you can’t not have a winner for seven years. Doping has been part of sport, not only for cycling, for decades. Who tells me Jacques Anquetil won clean? Should we take his victories away? Or why does Richard Virenque get to keep his polka dot jerseys?”.
Of the more recent winners only Andy Schleck and Oscar Pereiro felt Armstrong should keep his wins, with Schleck, who won his 2010 title after Alberto Contador tested positive, saying: “Who remembers who was second place in those races? I wouldn’t know myself. You can’t have seven races without a winner, so just leave Armstrong on the list.”
Cadel Evans, Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome said in the survey that no name should be on the 1999-2005 results so that later generations take notice.
Tour de France Director Christian Prudhomme reacted angrily when the results of the study were presented him. “Lance Armstrong does not exist for us any more. His name will not return to the list. That chapter has long been closed, and we will not come back.”
It is so very easy to say thay MOST cyclists in that era were doped and so he ought to be a legitimate champion… how convenient!
The Fact is This ,,Lance Armstrong Was and Still Is a Gifted Athlete .The Drugs Were Wrong And Have Been Used By Many Riders.His Lifetime Ban is Unfair .If Your Thinking is That Its Fair Then Anybody Who Used Drugs Even Once Should Recieve a Lifetime Ban.Not Just Him.
The sport is a joke and loaded with conflicts of interest. The fact that Amgen, the makers of EPO a forbidden drug, are the sponsors of the Tour of California? What the hell is that? I mean come on! We make this illegal drug, don’t use it kids, but we’re gonna sponsor you… How much money is Amgen making off the riders in the peloton? How are all these drugs making it into the hands of athletes? They have to be fueling this black market, there has to be complicity in there somehow.
EPO (Erythropoietin) is not an ‘Illegal Drug’ any more than penicillin is. It is (or was?) prescribed to patients with kidney disease, severe anemia, and some cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy in order to enhance red blood cell production. AMGEN is not better or worse than any other company that researches and develops medical treatments for sick people.
If Amgen is guilty of anything, it’s overstating the effectiveness of EPO and waiting too long to take it off the market when it was learned that it’s side effects were too serious. As more studies were done, it was understood that it was basically ineffective in terms of actual health benefits and Doctors stopped prescribing it. Sometime around 2014 or so, Amgen stopped producing it.
Amgen is not saint in the corporate world, but to blame them for cyclists abusing EPO in the 1990s is like blaming heroin addiction on the Syringe manufacturers.
And looking back on it now, EPO isn’t nearly as effective as people believed it was – sure, it improved red blood cell stats on paper, but eventually, after many studies, it was shown that it was nearly ineffective at improving patients health.
The cyclists were getting the various drugs they were using legally, through prescriptions from team doctors. Those doctors and the team managers who employed them are the ones who should be looked at as criminals.
Lance is guilty of being a first class jerk. There are many like him. It’s not a crime, and not even against the rules of cycling to be mean to people. But let’s face it, he’s being held up as a poster child for an entire era of cycling where cheating was rampant. This isn’t ‘justice’. If they were interested in justice, everyone who ever tested positive for any illegal drug would have received the same penalty.
I disagree. He broke the rules reinstating him shows that the rules do not matter. If you aren’t going to enforce the rules then don’t have any rules. Allow all drugs, allow hidden motors in seat tubes, transfusions, allow gene therapy, and whatever the hell else they can come up with. Heck why not do what Trump does and just falsely declare yourself the winner even when you didn’t actually win. I – William Hall – am the winner of the 2017 Tour de France.
The Tour de France is a joke now, it’s not about bike racing anymore it’s who has the better doctor and pharmaceuticals. I won’t watch it anymore. Sorry.
Lance Armstrongs Name Should Be Put Back As The Tour De France Winner Of Those Years.Simply F or The Fact That Most Of The Other Riders Were Using Drugs Also.Many of The Riders of That Era Feel That Same Way Too.Lance Armstrong Was Just On a Level Playing Field.Nobody is Excusing How He Treated People,But The Fact Is on A Level Playing Field Lance Won Those Years
Hello, Lance. That “level playing field” myth has been debunked many times over by now. Please educate yourself about the facts. http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/12-08-29/ Naturally gifted athletes would get less benefit. Not to mention all those who died from heart attacks in their 20’s and 30’s due to doping.